Can I create accessors on structs to automatically convert to/from other datatypes?
Question
is it possible to do something like the following:
struct test
{
this
{
get { /*do something*/ }
set { /*do something*/ }
}
}
so that if somebody tried to do this,
test tt = new test();
string asd = tt; // intercept this and then return something else
Solution
Conceptually, what you want to do here is in fact possible within .NET and C#, but you're barking up the wrong tree with regards to syntax. It seems like an implicit conversion operator would be the solution here,
Example:
struct Foo
{
public static implicit operator string(Foo value)
{
// Return string that represents the given instance.
}
public static implicit operator Foo(string value)
{
// Return instance of type Foo for given string value.
}
}
This allows you to assign and return strings (or any other type) to/from objects of your custom type (Foo
here).
var foo = new Foo();
foo = "foobar";
var string = foo; // "foobar"
The two implicit conversion operators don't have to be symmetric of course, though it's usually advisable.
Note: There are also explicit
conversion operators, but I think you're more after implicit operators.
OTHER TIPS
Expanding on MikeP's answer you want something like:
public static implicit operator Test( string value )
{
//custom conversion routine
}
or
public static explicit operator Test( string value )
{
//custom conversion routine
}
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